The President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) addressed today CoR PES Group members gathering at their Group meeting ahead of the European Committee of the Regions plenary session. The main theme of his intervention was the newly launched PES European Youth Plan campaign, which was the centrepiece of the PES Council held in Prague on 2-3 December.
"We are launching this Europe-wide campaign at a crucial moment. Time has come to show that progressive forces are united in their commitment for a more social Europe, which is the very soul of our political family, and to remind that we are able to deliver on growth, investment and decent jobs. In order to gain citizens' confidence, we need to stand for what we declare", President Stanishev stressed in his speech.
"As a follow-up to the campaign for a European Youth Guarantee, which has been successfully implemented thanks to the close cooperation of progressive forces at all government levels, we want to go a step further. Progressive cities and regions, which are the closest ones to citizens, can play a vital role in involving young Europeans in this major plan and giving them tangible perspectives", he added.
He was joined by the CoR PES Group’s Youth Ambassador Benedetta Brighenti, Vice-Mayor of Castelnuovo Rangone (Italy), who, referred to the participation of her city, Modena, in the European Youth Plan Action Day. "Young people are enthusiastic by nature and it is important to empower them through education and decent jobs. They are the key to fighting populism", she emphasised, stressing that empowering local and regional authorities to invest in youth will be vital to the success of this initiative.
The PES European Youth Plan is based on four main pillars: employment, education, culture and children.
Concerning employment, the PES will fight for a permanent and extended European Youth Guarantee. To ensure appropriate funding beyond the 2016 revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework, the PES urges for 20 billion EUR until 2020 for the Youth Employment Initiative, which backs the Youth Guarantee.
Concerning education, the PES calls for a broadened Erasmus+ for secondary and vocational education and training school students. This ties in with the PES vision for education systems, which must respond not just to employability needs but also to the objective of truly empowering and emancipating students while keeping abreast with new technologies.
Concerning culture, the PES proposes a European Youth Cheque to facilitate the access to culture. To empower young people as culture consumers and creators, the PES suggests a voucher of a certain money value co-financed by the European funds, to be spent on any cultural activity of the young cardholders’ choice.
Finally, concerning childhood support, the PES proposes a Child Guarantee that will ensure that all children in poverty have access to free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition.
President Stanishev's intervention was warmly welcomed by CoR PES Group members and led to a fruitful exchange on the current state of social democracy in Europe and the need to stick to our values of solidarity and cohesion in the face of rising populism.
